BendPak MaxJax M7K Review: Premium Portable Two-Post Lift

The MaxJax M7K is a different animal from every other product on this page. The QuickJacks and their imitators are frame lifts that stop at about 24 in. The M7K is a real asymmetric 2-post with 69 in of rise, arms with adjustable pads, and automatic locks, and its trick is that the columns bolt down to anchors set in the slab and unbolt again when you are done. Each column tips onto a dolly and rolls to a wall. The anchors stay in the floor under flush caps.

BendPak sells it through its Dannmar and MaxJax channels, and the design has been refined since the original M6K: capacity is up to 7,000 lb, rise to 69 in, and the power unit runs on 220V single-phase per the listed specifications. Total system weight is about 550 lb, split between two columns, two arms per column, the power unit and hoses.

The buyer this is aimed at is specific: someone who wants to pull a transmission or stand under a car, and whose garage cannot give up a bay to a permanent lift. That buyer has had no other option, which is why BendPak can ask $5,039 for it.

Portable does not mean no site work. The columns bolt to anchors that have to be drilled into the slab, and BendPak's installation manual specifies a minimum concrete thickness and strength (4 in of 3,000 psi is the figure commonly cited for MaxJax; confirm against the current manual for the M7K). A garage slab poured at 3.5 in, or one with a post-tension cable, is a stop sign. A core sample or the builder's spec sheet settles it.

Ceiling height is more forgiving than a permanent 2-post because the columns are short. Full rise is 69 in; put a 57 in tall sedan on it and the roof is about 10.5 ft up, so a 10 ft ceiling means stopping at a lower lock, which the multi-position locks allow. An 8 ft garage still gets useful working height, just not the full 69 in.

Width is the third constraint. The listed overall width is 132 in extended, and the drive-through between the columns has to clear the mirrors of whatever goes on it. A single-car bay under 11 ft wide gets tight. Power is 220V single-phase, which for most houses means an electrician and a new circuit.

7,000 lb covers every car and crossover, every half-ton pickup and full-size SUV, and the lighter three-quarter-tons at the curb. The asymmetric arm layout puts the columns slightly rearward of center so the driver's door opens wide once the car is up, which matters more than it sounds on a lift you use for interior and door work as well as underbody.

Rise is where the money goes. At 69 in a technician of average height stands upright under a sedan, and a transmission jack, a fuel tank or a full exhaust comes out the way it does in a shop. A QuickJack 7000TL or 8000TLX puts the same truck at 24 in and stops. That gap is the whole argument for the M7K.

Rise time is listed at 45 to 50 seconds to full height, normal for a 2-post on a single-phase unit. Collapsed pad height is 5.25 in, higher than a frame lift, and low cars will need the arms swung under carefully or a set of ramps to get the pads at the lift points. The automatic locks engage at multiple heights as the carriages climb, with the same lower-onto-the-lock procedure as any shop 2-post.

BendPak's pitch is that the columns stow in about 15 minutes, and that is realistic once the anchors are in and the routine is learned. Each column has to be rolled to its anchor set, stood upright, bolted down with the supplied hardware, torqued, and connected to the power unit's hoses; then the arms go on. Taking it down is the reverse. A frame lift goes from wall to car in a fraction of the time.

The columns are heavy. Each is well over 200 lb with arms, so stowing them is a dolly job, not a carry, and the wall space they occupy is about 3 to 4 ft wide with the arms stacked. The power unit is a separate box with its own storage footprint. This is why the cons list calls the portability more theoretical than practical: the M7K is a permanent lift that can be taken down, not a lift you will take down every week.

The moderate installation rating is fair. Drilling the anchors accurately, verifying the slab, running 220V, and shimming the columns plumb is a weekend for a handy owner and beyond what some buyers want to do themselves.

Owner reviews on Amazon for the M7K skew toward people who did the research and knew what they were buying, so the tone is more shop-talk than surprise. The consistent praise is for standing-height access in a garage that still parks cars, and for the quality of the columns, carriages and hydraulics, which read as BendPak shop equipment rather than consumer hardware. The consistent complaints are the 220V requirement, the time and effort of the anchor install, and the price, which several reviewers say they would not pay again if their garage could hold a permanent lift.

That last point is the honest comparison. A BendPak XPR-10AS is a 10,000 lb permanent asymmetric 2-post with more rise, and it costs less than the M7K. If a bay can be given over to a lift, the XPR-10AS is the better tool. If only creeper-height access is needed, a QuickJack 7000TL does that on 110V for about $1,800, and the 8000TLX handles heavier trucks for $2,150.

The M7K only wins when both of those are ruled out: full rise required, floor space not available. For that buyer it has no real competitor.

Buy the M7K if you need to stand under a vehicle, do transmissions, clutches, fuel tanks or full exhausts, and the garage has to return to parking duty between jobs. Confirm three things first: the slab is at least 4 in of sound concrete without post-tension cables, a 220V circuit can be run to the bay, and the ceiling is at least 9 to 10 ft so the rise is usable. If all three check out, nothing else does this job.

Do not buy it because it is portable in the QuickJack sense. It is not. Taking it down is a 15 minute job with a dolly and the columns still need a wall.

Buy a QuickJack 7000TL or 8000TLX instead if creeper height is enough for the work you do; the M7K costs three times as much for the extra 45 in. Buy a BendPak XPR-10AS or similar permanent 2-post instead if the garage can give up a bay; it is cheaper, lifts more, and rises higher. The M7K is for the narrow case in between, and it is expensive because it is the only one there.